New Business / June 2007
The Mane Stage
Becky Dines and her horse, Rusty |
By Pat Lawrence
After thirty years of working at Dupont and as many years generously contributing her time and energy to Habitat for Humanity, Old Man Rivers, the Volunteer Action Center, Washington Works Wildlife Habitat Committee and more, Becky Dines has retired. At least, she’s retired from driving to work.
Cleaning stables and making hay might not be everyone’s idea of a perfect retirement plant, but Becky took early retirement to devote her time and attention to a childhood dream come true, Rusty-Horse Stables.
“I’ve loved horses since I was a kid. Even though we lived on a farm, we never had a horse. I remember begging my aunt when I was five to please, please let me keep a horse in her basement. Sadly, she never would, so I read all about horses in the encyclopedia.”
In 1991, Becky and her husband Jim built a house on 87 acres near Rockport. In 1992, they built a barn. In 1993, they got their first horse.
“We bred her, and after the baby was born, thought she needed a friend and ended up buying a stallion. We enjoyed it all so much we wanted to open a stable.” They found the perfect site in Lubeck with 94 acres and christened their new enterprise Rusty-Horse Farms, after a small, paint horse that came from Last Chance Corral, a foal and horse rescue operation near Athens. The new stable has twenty three 12’ x 12’ stalls. It is now home to eleven of their own horses, including their Quarter Horse and Missouri Fox Trotter breeding stallions.
Although horses are Becky’s passion, hay has become a big part of her life. Half of the farm’s 94 acres are planted in hay. “We put up 8000 bales last year, enough for our own hourses and sold the rest to help pay for the fertilizer and the machinery we use. Because we feed our own horses and our customers horses the hay we raise, we produce the highest quality hay possible.”
Horses are bred, sold, leased, boarded and trained at Rusty-Horse Farms. Stalls must be cleaned each day and stripped every three days. Horses are fed and watered three times daily. According to Becky, “Horses are extremely intelligent, but, in a ‘fight or flight’ situation, they choose flight. They must constantly be acclimated to noises and people.”
Rusty-Horse is committed to modern, natural handling and training methods. Becky says, “The techniques used at Rusty-Horse are taken from the Natural Horsemanship movement and teachings of respected clinicians like John Lyons, the Horse Whisperer, Clinton Anderson and Pat Parelli. We practice imprinting, right from birth, getting the foal accustomed to people and sounds, touching and rubbing them within hours of being born.”
Becky has spent the last fourteen years learning about horses, going to horse shows, talking to breeders and reading. “For the past few years, I’ve read constantly. We must have every book ever written about horses! Every step, each decision, and any change, must be researched.”
The new arena should be completed soon, Western and English riding lessons. will start shortly and Becky hopes the trails will be ready by fall. Their Missouri Fox Trotters have the comfortable gait cherished by trail riders. But, she says, “hay season is starting, so for a while, life will be hay, hay and hay.”
Jim still works at Dupont, so Becky is responsible for managing the business, open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm. In addition to youngsters who help out in exchange for lessons, Becky is assisted by a part time employee and a zoologist who has offered her services this summer. She says, “And, our children and three grandchildren help, too. It never hurts to plan ahead and we’re hoping one of the grandchildren becomes a vet!”
Since Becky spent years active in the Chamber, “even with just half an employee, we joined the MOV Chamber of Commerce.” She hasn’t given up her volunteer habits completely; her ties to Habitat for Humanity and the VAC are too strong, though she has cut back. Other than that, she says,“My only extracurricular activity is NPR – I’m a news hound!”
This stage of her life doesn’t leave much time for other interests, but at least Becky doesn’t waste any time sitting in traffic. The house is fifty yards from the stable and the commute is just across the road.
For more information about Rusty-Horse Farms, call 304-863-8762 or visit rusty-horse.com. For more information about Last Chance Corral, call 740-594-4336 or visit lastchancecorral.org.
Copyright © 2001-2009 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Top • Home • Subscribe • Advertise • Submit • Distribution • Contact
Support Our Advertisers • Organization Resources • Women Owned Business
Organization Resource List • Women Owned Businesses • Support Our Advertisers
Maintained by TEABROOKE
Website Design | SEO | Social Media Consulting
Related Sites | XMLSiteMap | Web Portal
Landing Zone SEO - Website | Search | Usability | Results | Goodness
Send an Email About This Article